The best thing you could say about the Edmonton Oilers is that they drafted last year’s Hart Trophy winner and the Art Ross winner. The worst thing you could say about them is that only one of those players still plays in Edmonton. While a healthy Connor McDavid has solidified himself as the league’s most dynamic offensive force, the same can not be said for the rest of the lineup. After Leon Draisaitl, there’s a drop off in top-tier forward talent. Consecutive offseasons of trading away Taylor Hall and Jordan Eberle in one-for-one trades has mostly backfired, as the Oilers now lack the scoring depth that should have been a staple of a team with so many high draft picks. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins is a solid top-six option, but he’s not a needle-mover in the sense that he’s never once posted above a 0.84 points per game mark.

The Andrej Sekera injury coming into a second consecutive season highlights what was a major concern in 2017-18. Forcing everyone to play up a spot in the lineup threw off the balance that worked for them well in 2016-17, and pretty much everyone became quickly exposed when they were thrown into rules that didn’t suit them. RFA Darnell Nurse remains unsigned, but should be hard to really mess up, whether he ends up with a bridge deal or something more long-term. Nurse likely won’t make too much money that it’ll be detrimental to the team’s cap situation, and is young enough that he can still be an NHL contributor for the entire length of whatever deal he signs.

2017 and 2016 first round draft picks Kailer Yamamoto and Jesse Puljujarvi both look to break into the NHL on full-time jobs, and could very well be the difference maker in deciding just how great the team’s offence reghally can be.

Both general manager Peter Chiarelli and head coach Todd McLellan begin the season on the hot seat from the get-go. Chiarelli wasn’t overly active this offseason, choosing to believe in the group that he’s constructed will be able to turn their luck around. Jakub Jerabek and Josh Currie are the only two free agents they’ve signed since July 1, with Jason Garrison and Scottie Upshall getting training camp invites on PTO contracts.

In net, the Oilers are counting on goaltender Cam Talbot to have a bounceback season, as his .908 save percentage wasn’t good enough to keep the Oilers within playoff contention. In a similar vein, Edmonton’s special teams almost have to be on the upswing, as the 31st ranked penalty kill at home, and 23rd best overall was a dagger to the team’s playoff hopes. Behind him, Mikko Koskinen starts the season as an unproven backup who has yet to play pro hockey in North America.

But the biggest elephant in the room with the Oilers is Milan Lucic, who with five years left on his deal worth $6 million per season had a career worst year in 2017-18. He scored just ten times, including a stretch from December 23rd until the end of the season where he hit the back of the net just once. While the two halves of his season may not The end result may be about in the same ballpark. When he signed his deal it seemed like he’d been brought in as a winger, but consistently sticking the two together and hoping things will get better might not be the best course of action.

The depth of the Oilers may come into question, with Connor McDavid again being forced to shoulder a heavy amount of the load. But even with McDavid putting up Art Ross-winning numbers, we’ve seen in the past with a similar roster that may not be enough if the luck doesn’t fall the Oilers’ way.

After an eventful and at times confusing offseason, the Carolina Hurricanes got off to a scorching start to the 2018-19 season. In their first five games, the Canes went 4-0-1 while outscoring the opposition 22-15 in all situations and 16-9 at 5v5. They were also controlling 62.4% of the unblocked shot attempts at 5v5 during…